Electrode assembly



Aug. 9, 1949. H. A. WINTERMUTE ELECTRODE AS SEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 5, 1946 INVENTOR.

Aug. 9, 1949.

H- A. WINTERMUTE ELECTRODE ASSEMBLY Filed June 5, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. I 4% a. z/M

Patented Aug. 9, 1949 UNITED STA-FEB J 2,478,800: v eEQEB ASSEMBLY;

Harry A: Wintermute, Plainfield; ass ig nor to- Research Corporation, New; York, N L Y, a corporation ofrNew-York; r V

erl etionlim 3, '=ri i-' Matt-9i 3 Glaims.

Thisinv-cnti l el tes l ct de ssemblie movement over the surface ofthe electrode to scrape precipitated matter from the electrode surface. l

her c s. a eto. prov de. imple e n j n supporting the filamentary scraper in" effective scraping relation to theelectrode surface and' 'to provide conveniently operable'and easily rnanuc i d. ain a ned m h nism o ca s re ative mov me t e ween. thecvlindrioal electrpdememloer and thescraper element:

In, acha acter sti mb d ment, hey n en i r takes the, form ijan elec rode s mb y n a electr ca .pr initato hish t mpr ses an elepd m m er, a filamentary cr pin em n mounted. in. ontact w th. t e. ur e fQi' a 15?- trode member, and, means. for causing'*'relative m em t fs i ifi e tary em n ayne r e to and' over the surface fsaid' electrodeme .b In a preferred embodiment, the electrode fitment is cylindrical-, is mounted for rotation-"about its longitudinal axis, and has means for causing its rotation; and the scraping element-is-ametallic wire resilient-ly and' relatively fixedly mounted in helical; contact with the cylindrical% surface of the electrode member. As the electrical precipitators to which the invention is applied usually'have a pluralityof cylindrical electrodes; the invention may include means for-rotating the electrodes in unison and meansfor mounting; a pluralit: of scraping elements; each-incontactwith one-pf the cylindrical electrodes;

The invention will be more particularly described and other of its obiects and advantages will appear in the following detailed description of oneof its embodiments, as shownin -the=accornpanying drawings. In'the drawings;

Fig; l is a vertical sectional view taken'through an electrical precipitatoralong a plane parallel tothe direction-of gas flow;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on a reduced scale, of the 2,. precipitator shown ..in-.Eig.x 1', lparts heing broken away-to show interiorlconstruotion, an v V Fig.- 3 iS2rS8ClliOIl9llaVi6W, on theesa. 2: Fig.- 2-;' taken-alonglthe Iplaneofv the linej 3 Fig. 1: i

Referring to the drawings, wherein lilge referencenumerals refer to like parts. man s i l" rise from the baselonlyla shontedistaneg, me]

best seen-inFigl-I, to providewith the lo and-I werpQrtiOns of theesidelwalls pit 15; into which-settles clustor'othe matter scraped from-theelectrodes; Accessto the s 1 may befh'ad through azdoorl-i I.6 ;f01 '1 :pe11logiq clean outs. V I

The front and back-.1ofethehousinaare open to provide a passageway for: circulation of gas to i-pe cleaned; I the gas stream flowing through the ap} 'paratus inthesense ot-thaarromshoWIl; nlE g. 2-

If, will be understood that the. precipitallin l it shown, or a number of them; arranged inser s, is provided wit-hconduit means. (not sliovvn for leading a stream of--' gastoebecleaned to the PEG;

cipitator and for carrying away- 1h, -Stream of cleaned gas. A fan or other c,irculating;v (not shown) maybeprovided. V I Within the housingl there. are; ii pssdit r banks of complementary.electrodes; the collecting electrodes I T being.-.C-1il1d1ilc 3,1 extended surface electrodesand the-high-tension e leotrgode being fine'wire discharge'electrodes. Til; tension electrodes. are. insulated: fromthe, as ing and from the extendedxsurface electrodes an are supplied, in a mannentobeexplained wjth g tensionelectriccurrent. ."Ifheyextended snrfaoe electrodes are grounded to the casing, whiph-in turn is grounded; or: these zelectrodesalie otherwise maintained at a suitab1e'prese1eoted1 potential; to generate, in cooperation with thefine wire electrodes, a high tension electricifieldlaccompagnied bycorona discharge As. willl beunderstood Icy-persons skilled ingthe art; particles; suspended in a stream ofgas passing through the apparatus acquire an electriccharge and; are largely at.- tracted' to the extended: surfaceelectrodes upon which they are deposited as art adherent-film.

The means for supporting the highs tension electrodes 1'8 and for insulatingthem-includes a pair of late-rally disposed-tubulan'insulating members 1'9, preferably formed -.otasynthetic resinous material; porcelain, or the like. 'lihe insulating member's are-received in holes-termed in the sidewalls li and secured" imposition. by

'38 and 33, respectively,

:thetic filaments.

3 adjustable collars 20. The insulating support members l9 carry a pair of vertically disposed struts 2|, the struts being preferably formed of conducting metal and being fastened to the support members l9 by means of screws 22, as best seen in Fig. 1. Horizontal metallic beams 23 are welded to the tops and bottoms of the struts 2|, and the beams, in turn, have welded to them a plurality of spaced metallic cross-arms 24. The fine wire electrodes are tensioned between the ends of the cross-arms, as shown. There is thus provided an insulated high tension electrode assembly to which high tension current may be led through any suitable conductor (not shown). If desired, the conductor may be run into one of the insulating tubes l9 and connected to one of the screws 22 to supply current to the high tension electrode assembly.

The cylindrical extended surface electrodes 11 are mounted for rotationabout their longitudinal axes. To provide for this mounting, they are journalled at their lower ends in bearings 25 carried by the horizontal members 26 and at their upper ends in bearings 21 carried in the top l3 of the housing.

Mechanism is provided for rotating the cylindrical electrodes H in unison. Such mechanism includes the cranks 28 extending from the upper end of each of the electrodes. 29 of the cranks are slidably received in holes 30 formed in a tie-plate 3|, the holes being spaced on centers corresponding to the horizontal spacing of the cylindrical electrodes. It will thus be The offset arms.

seen that circular motion imparted to the tieplate will cause rotation of the cylindrical electrodes through the agency of the cranks 28.

A main driving crank 32 is provided for imparting to the tie-plate the requisite circular motion. The crank is journalled in a lower bearing 33 and in an upper bearing 34, the latter being formed in a bearing plate 35 supported on the top l3 of the housing by upright members 36. As shown, the driving crank is manually operable, but it will be understood that continuous or intermittent power driving means may be used advantageously in some installations.

There is provided for each extended surface electrode a filamentary scraping element 31 which bears against the cylindrical surface of the electrode and is relatively fixedl mounted with respect to the electrode. The scraper wires are preferably resiliently mounted under tension, and, as shown in the drawings, the upper and lower ends of the wires are aflixed to bow-springs the springs being mounted on bosses and 4| to which they are fastened by screws.

The scraping wires 31 are held in contact with the cylindrical surfaces of the extended surface electrodes ll preferably along a helical path of high pitch. In the illustrative embodiment shown, the wire makes one-half of a turn about the cylinder, but other pitches may be used. Conveniently in the modification shown, one, one and one-half, or two turns of the wires about thecylinders can be utilized successfully.

Various materials may be used for the filamentary scraping elements such as soft copper enameled wire, iron wire, fibrous filaments, or syn- Also, the specific means shown for supporting the scraping elements may be varied as desired in the light of the foregoing description. Coil springs or other resilient mounting means may be used to support one or both ends of each scraping wire, or, if the wire has sufiicient inherent resiliency, separate resilient mounting means may be omitted.

In operation, as precipitated material builds up .on the electrodes 11 to a point where efliciency of precipitation is likely to be impaired, it is only necessary to turn the crank 32 through one or two revolutions to scrape the electrodes clean and thus to re-establish optimum precipitation conditions. Material scraped from the electrodes falls into the sump I5 from which it may be removed as necessary through the door Hi.

In the construction shown, it is a relatively simple matter to replace damaged or broken scraping elements by merely detaching the undesired filaments from the bow-springs 38 and 39 and replacing them with new ones.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that there has been provided an improved electrode assembly including an electrode scraping device which eliminates the necessity for employing electrode rapping or flushing devices and which is characterized by the employment of a filamentary scraping element which can be maintained in intimate contact with the surface of an electrode whereby the electrode surface may readily be maintained in a substantially clean condition so that back discharge is obviated.

I claim:

1. In an electrical precipitator including complementary high tension and extended surface collecting electrodes, said extended surface electrode comprising a cylindrical electrode member having its external convex surface disposed in complementary relation to said high tension electrode, means mounting said cylindrical electrode member for rotation about its longitudinal axis, and means for rotating said cylindrical electrode member; a filamentary scraping element, and means relatively fixedly mounting and tensioning said filamentary scraping element in helical contact with the convex surface of said cylindrical electrode member.

2. In an electrical precipitator including complementary high tension and extended surface collecting electrodes, said extended surface electrode comprising a cylindrical electrode member having its external convex surface disposed in complementary relation to said high tension electrode, means mounting said cylindrical electrode member for rotation about its longitudinal axis, and means for rotating said cylindrical electrode member; a filamentary scraping element, and resilient means relatively fixedly mounting and tensioning said filamentary scraping element in helical contact with the convex surface of said cylindrical electrode member.

3. An electrical precipitator comprising a pair of substantially coextensive spaced parallel cylindrical collecting electrodes, high tension electrode means positioned in complementary relation to the external convex surfaces of said cylindrical collecting electrodes, means mounting each of saidcylindrical electrodes for rotation about its axis, means for rotating said cylindrical electrodes, bow-spring members extending transversely across the gaps between the ends of said cylindrical electrodes, means fixedly mounting said spring members substantially at their midpoints, and filamentary scraping elements tensioned between said bow-spring members in helical contact with the convex surfaces of said cylindrical electrode members.

HARRY A. WINTERMUTE.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 32.611 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,349,362 Chubb Aug. 10, 1920 1,582,499 Zopf Apr. 27, 1926 2,313,389

Meston Mar. 9, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France Feb. 14, 1928 (Addition to 617,411) Germany Jan. 27, 1930 Germany Dec. 7, 1938 

